


Lightstone

by thiefofbluefire



Series: Broken unity [6]
Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mystery, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 06:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21070325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefofbluefire/pseuds/thiefofbluefire
Summary: The specifics of the void are simply not something you're allowed to know.





	Lightstone

Ekimu felt a chill crawl up his spine as he crossed the threshold of the temple. He told himself that it was just his legs letting him know that he needed rest after climbing so many stairs, but he couldn't fool himself for more than a moment.

Using this mask was taboo. And maybe he'd crossed the line before, but it was no easier back then than it was now.

The mask of time was a relic unlike any other. A mask that had been a part of his people's culture for generations, but not because of how well his people were acquainted with it, or because of the legends and tails spun about those who donned it.  
The mask of time hadn't been forged by Ekimu or Makuta, nor had either of them been able to replicate it's power. The relic appeared on their shores one lonely stormy night, bearing warnings of misfortune and dismay for any with the will to put it on for a peek, and the strength to take it off when they'd seen enough.

The present was something to experience in real time, the past something to learn from and leave behind. But the future was subject to change, and to influence. Not something to lose oneself to.

Interesting that Makuta didn't think to use it to foresee his defeat, or to consider changing the future that was today into one he and his brother could stay together in.

Ekimu knew the warnings, had written a few of them himself, and prepared himself accordingly before opening the stone door of the chamber by leaving his hammer and his crowned mask of creation back at the forge.  
Inside, light drifted in through thick glass roofing onto the ground, framing the shape of a clock. Twenty four notches carved into the floor converged into a pedestal in the shape of a broken sundial, as time itself didn't apply to the mask that rested upon it.

Respectfully, Ekimu closed the door behind him and slowly strode towards the pedestal in a spiral around the chamber opposite to the rotation of the sun, making sure to lay a foot on each notch as he did so. When he was close enough, the mask maker gently reached out to the metal frills that made up it's cheeks and lifted the mask as one would lift the hand of a friend.

Briefly, he let himself admire the metalwork and the artistic flair that the mask was made with. Bronze wasn't ideal in terms of material used for masks, but it worked well in this case, and Ekimu was awed by its modest but magnificent gleam when the light caught on it's surface.  
It made the mask simultaneously harmless in appearance, and terrifically otherworldly.

The mask maker did come with a question for it though, and the time to ask was nigh. So Ekimu tentatively turned it over in his hands, took a deep breath, and pressed the mask to his face.

"My brother, Makuta, has yet to unleash his horde upon the land he once called home. He has the tool he wanted, he has the opportunity to come at any moment. Why has he not appeared?"

A moment passed. Ekimu closed his eyes to blink, and reopened them to the stench of coppery blood mixed with stone and steel.

Another chamber, with chains in the walls and scratches on the floor. Arms, restrained above his head without circulation in his fingers.  
He'd expected the cell to be cold, and sometimes it was, but not usually and not now.  
It was hot.  
Which wasn't something he wasn't used to, but unpleasant was definitely the word for it here.

He was tired, so tired.

Another blink, a different chamber.  
Cold, freezing even. No clothes, no protection. Floors, walls, door, chains, all metal. All cold. All dark.  
A cold blade cuts into his side. It hurts more than anything else in the world right now, but he doesn't scream.  
He's just trying to cause pain. Trying to make him bend.

He won't break him here.

"The shadows are everywhere, "Makuta", and where they are, so am I. And even my shadows can't hide your fear."

Another blade, a twist, the pain flares up, the smell of blood, the feeling of something rough being embedded under the flesh.

Another blink.

A different place. Not a chamber, outside. Dark, with a faint light on the path. There's undead everywhere. A slicer brings down a blade on a shield before getting crushed by a boulder. Another two drown in a wall of stream water and are promptly tossed into a couple others in an attempt to slow them down.  
Sparks burst into flames that engulf the swarm at the front, leaving ashes when the flames vanish in hot gusts of wind.

All the while, the continuous clap of gunfire is deafening as six warriors work to continue their trek towards that thing in the distance.

The dark earth shudders.

Crystals peak out from the ground in places behind every warrior, glowing bright with light before collapsing into a spiral void that pulls them apart from each other.

"I'll find you! I promise!" Calls out the leader, a man in red with a mighty sword.

"Who was he referring to?"

"His allies."

"Oh?"

"Who else would he be referring to?"

"Good question, but here's a better one; why did you save them?"

"You don't own me, that's why."

"That won't do now. Try that again."

A sharp pain in his hand. Look down. A large crystal sprouts out from his thumb.

It.

Hurts!

It hurts, it hurts to hold his weapons. It hurts to stand, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to think.

"You... Don't..."

"I'm fairly certain that I do, actually. We'll need to work on that attitude of yours, but at least I know your power works."

His eyes clench shut from the pain.

The crystals won't stop. They're in his hands, in his body, in his head and in his mind.

Him. He's in there too.

"I'm not the one who did this to you, friend. I'm the one who found you all alone in the void."

Liar. Liar.

"Really? Then where were your brethren when you were by yourself in the dark?"

Where were they? Where are they? TOA. Unity, duty. Have to find them, Where did they go?  
Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here.

Why did they leave?  
Why did you leave?  
Why did you leave me behind?

"Where did you go...?"

"I can help you."

Ekimu gasped as he wrenched the mask away from his face. Breathing harshly, he set the mask back to its pedestal and backed away until he hit the stone wall. He slid down to his knees and sobbed into his hands.

The sheer amount of physical pain would've been unbearable enough, but there came also the low, sore, ache in his head and heart like the soul had been taken right out of his body, leaving an angry, depressed husk in its wake.

Tears streamed down his face and Ekimu covered his mouth to suppress an agonizing cry.

What in the hells did he just see?


End file.
